The British Guild of Agricultural Journalists will be the host for the prestigious IFAJ World Congress this year for an unprecedented sixth time. The Congress is titled, “Entitled Innovations from a Small Island” and the event will showcase British food and farming to the global media. The ZimmComm team hopes to be there and is seeking sponsors at this time. …
Prince William to Study Agriculture
Hear ye, hear ye! New daddy and heir to the British throne will be studying agriculture in 2014. A royal press release has announced that Prince William, otherwise known as the Duke of Cambridge, “is to undertake a 10-week bespoke programme in agricultural management, organised by the Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership at the University of Cambridge.” The course has …
BASF Advanced Seed Enhancement is Global
At the ASTA CSS 2013 and Seed Expo last week, we heard about the BASF portfolio of Advanced Seed Enhancements including inoculants, colorants, and biological and chemical seed treatments. Much of this new portfolio comes from the BASF acquisition of Becker Underwood in late 2012, according to Alyson Emanuel, Vice President of Global Business Management for BASF Functional Crop Care. …
Happy World Soil Day
Got soil? Go outside and dig your fingers in it. It’s World Soil Day! Here’s a message from USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service on how important healthy soil is and how using conservation practices like no-till can help farmers take better care of their land. When soil is heavily tilled, the stalks from the previous crop are chopped, and the …
Global Manager for IFAJ
We want to congratulate our friend Jose van Gelder, Agriterra, for her new job with the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists. Here’s her announcement message from Facebook: Yippee!! As of next month, I’m appointed as the new Global Manager for the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ)! Great challenge and perfect combination with my current work at Agriterra, for which …
Borlaug Award Nominations Now Open
You can now place your nominations for the 2014 Borlaug CAST Communication Award. The award is organized by the Council for Agricultural Science & Technology, sponsored by DuPont and carries on the legacy of Dr. Norman Borlaug. The honor recognizes professionals working in the agricultural, environmental or food sectors who are promoting ag science in the public policy arena. This …
The Young Agrarian Community
Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast. In this week’s program we’re going to talk about Young Agrarians. During the 2013 Canadian Farm Writers’ Federation conference you met Sara Dent from a presentation she did at our opening reception. Now meet Sara in a more personal way via a conversation we had at the close of the CFWF conference. My focus …
People Who Love Bugs Who Eat Bugs
The past president of the Canadian Farm Writers’ Federation, Tamara Leigh, shows off her Bekina Boots in this photo with several researchers. Tamara was presenting them with a thank you gift for taking time to meet with us. We were assembled in the Pacific Agri-Food Research Centre during a stop on our CFWF farm tour. The Centre conducts research into …
Kenyan Researcher Honored at World Food Prize
Brilliant, well-spoken and pretty as a doll, Dr. Charity Kawira Mutegi was everyone’s darling at the World Food Prize symposium last week. The 38-year-old researcher from Kenya received the 2013 Norman Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application, endowed by the Rockefeller Foundation, in recognition of her efforts to find the cause and a solution to a deadly outbreak of …
Australian Farmer on TATT Roundtable
Australian farmer Andrew Weidemann along with his wife and youngest son attended the Wold Food Prize with Truth About Trade and Technologies (TATT) Global Farmer Roundtable. While chatting with Andrew outside of his roundtable role, I learned more about life on his farm in Victoria. He and his brother are in a partnership along with their families. They are also …